Jou Ma Se Kombuis: The little kitchen changing the lives of people in Mannenberg

The kitchen teaches basic cooking and baking skills to guys and girls that are on drugs that want to come out of gangs and would want to change their lives.

Jou ma se Kobuis began as a training programme back at the beginning of 2013, where it ran from two local community centres’ kitchen spaces. It trains young men and women in catering and baking.

The project specifically seeks to help young people become employable and to encourage a rhythm of work in the lives of the High Risk Youth (HRY) engaging with Fusion.

In October last year, it opened a small coffee shop, which trains the young men living at Cru62 (Fusion’s development and recovery home for young men leaving gangs and going off drugs), and offers a real-work environment.

The fact is, nothing like this has ever existed in Manenberg. Because the café is still in its infancy, the small profit made is not yet near able to cover basic outgoings, let alone cover expensive equipment like fridges and a coffee machine, or salaries for two staff members, but they are working towards a business that will not only function as an effective social enterprise but will feed back into the running costs of Fusion.